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Documents Show Prophet Muhammad and US Founding Fathers Were Kindred Spirits

U.S. Constitution and the Quran

Although they are typically seen to represent overwhelming opposites, the Prophet Muhammad and America’s founding fathers shared many common characteristics and beliefs, which can be seen in historical documents. By comparing the speeches and texts that they left behind, we can learn of the similar viewpoints that Muhammad and the founding fathers held on issues pertaining to equal rights and religious liberty.

Prophet Muhammad and the American founding fathers shared an interest in protecting people regardless of their ethnicity, religion, or sexuality. Muhammad, for example, received revelations from God, who directed him to celebrate diversity and cherish it as a staple of Muslim society. Muhammad’s encounter with God would later be recorded in the Quran, which states, “O mankind, We created you from male and a female and made you into tribes and nations that you may get to know each other.”

Furthermore, in his final sermon at Mount Arafat in 632 AD, Muhammad left a code of equality for Muslims to follow. “An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab,” he stated, “nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab… a white person has no superiority over black nor does a black have any superiority over white except by piety and good action.” The Quran and Muhammad’s final sermon show his apathy for judging people based on their beliefs or skin color and his indifference to a homogenous society based on exclusive requisites for belonging.

Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson drafting The Declaration of Independence

America’s founding fathers had a similar apathy for determining a person’s societal worth based on ethnicity and heritage. In 1776 several of America’s founding fathers gathered in Philadelphia to write the Declaration of Independence, which held a strong and clear position on promoting equality similar to that of the Quran and Muhammad’s final sermon. The second paragraph of the Declaration states that Americans are “to hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,” which mirrors the progressive spirit of Muhammad written down over 1,000 years prior to the founding of the United States.

When the American Constitution was ratified in 1787, the founding fathers also put into practice that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise therefore,” which suggests that by law no particular group is to be treated as superior to another group in the United States. Similarly, the Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution “prohibits the denial of suffrage based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude,” which again cements a culture based on civic principles instead of more absolute and ethnocentric requirements.

The founding fathers’ interest in safeguarding equality in diverse circumstances is similar to Muhammad’s concern for tolerance in his multifarious Muslim community. Muslims worldwide and Americans would be wise to remember this balanced approach in finding parity in their own communities today.

Historical documents also show that Muhammad and America’s founding fathers were compassionate men. The depth of Muhammad’s humanity can be found in the Constitution of Medina, a document he created to ensure that the more vulnerable members of society felt safe and protected under the majority Muslim rule. Also referred to as the Medina Charter, Muhammad’s Constitution gave equal rights to non-Muslims living under an Islamic government. “Strangers” in Muhammad’s Muslim society were to be treated with special consideration and “on the same ground as their protectors.” Acting as a social charter for all Muslims to live by, the Medina Constitution helped to actualize the idea of a single community made up of a diverse people living under one government and under one creator.

Ten centuries after Muhammad’s charter, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson would adopt a similar societal structure as the basis for their new nation. In 1783, Washington wrote that “the bosom of America is open to receive… the oppressed and persecuted of all nations and religions, whom [Americans] shall welcome to a participation of all [their] rights and privileges… They may be [Muslims], Jews, or Christians of any sect.”

Likewise Thomas Jefferson, who authored the Declaration of Independence, wrote in a document for the Virginian colonial legislature that “the Jew, the Gentile, the Christian, and the [Muslim], the [Hindu], and infidel of every decimation” are accepted as equal citizens in the United States. The Constitution of Medina and documents of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson show that welcoming vulnerable groups who are perceived as outsiders is a central component of what it means to be Muslim and American. Muslims worldwide and American citizens should defend the creeds of their founding fathers and fight against prejudice and discrimination in their respective societies.

George Washington and Islam

Muhammad and the American founding fathers were keen to respect Judaism. Muhammad’s Medina Charter singled out Jews, who “shall maintain their own religion and the Muslim theirs… The close friends of Jews are as themselves.” Muhammad added in the Constitution that “those who followed [Jews] and joined them and struggled with them… form one and the same community.” Muhammad’s tolerance of Judaism is strikingly similar to that of Washington, who in 1783 wrote in a letter to the Jewish Community of Rhode Island that “the children of the stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, [will] continue to merit and enjoy the goodwill of their inhabitants.” This tribute to Jews by Muhammad and Washington is an important reminder for Muslims worldwide and Americans in their own struggles against anti-Semitism.

Both Muhammad and the American founding fathers also worked to assure women’s rights. In a time when women had few – if any – rights in Arabia, Muhammad helped liberate women with divinely sanctioned social, property, and marital rights. The Quran states that men and women were created “of a single soul, male and female.” Under sharia, or Islamic law, women were able to own property, freely spend their earnings, and agree or disagree to marriage arrangements – all unprecedented rights prior to God’s revelation to Muhammad. He also requested that men treat their daughters and wives with dignity and respect. “Do treat your women well and be kind to them,” he is reported to have said in a hadith, or saying of the Prophet Muhammad.

In the same disposition, the language of the Declaration of Independence, although written at a time when women were not considered to be equal to men, later inspired American women to fight for their “inalienable rights,” such as the right to own property and vote in elections. Although it did not explicitly verify the human rights of women, the Constitution was later reformed in the Nineteenth Amendment that prohibited voting discrimination on the basis of sex. The on-going struggle of equal rights for women in the United States and around the world is also an effort to reaffirm the democratic outlook of Muhammad and the founding fathers. Muslims worldwide and Americans should commemorate their standpoint by treating women with the utmost courtesy and respect.

The impartial temperament of Muhammad and the American founding fathers is being challenged today by people who proclaim that Islamic principles and American values are incompatible. The example of Muhammad and founding fathers like Washington and Jefferson should remind us of our duty to uphold universal ideals even when intolerant people and dogmatic organizations seek to destroy bridges for mutual cooperation.

20 Comments

Craig, your article revealed what many don’t know about Islam. As you have Shawn, Islamic principles are in conformity with rationale and supercedes what many people think of Islam today. ISLAM never contradicts logic and science. For those of us who see Islam as an oppressive religion against women, please dig further than what you see in the media and hear from friends. The literature is out there and you will be amazed. Kudos Craig for this wonderful article. I wish you could publish full version of the Medina constitution.

This is no Kaaba
For idiots to circle
Nor a mosque
For the impolite to clamor in.
This is a temple of total ruin.
Inside are the drunk from pre-eternity
to the Judgment Day,
Gone from themselves.
We are not creating a Kaaba here for idiots to circle, not a mosque for mobs to clamor in. We are creating a scientific energy field, where your energies can be transformed into their optimum potential. And when a man is really aflame with love, God has happened. And only with the happening of God can you be contented and can you be blissful. Only with the happening of God does misery disappear and do hells become non-existent . . .
And when I said this is a Sufi assembly, I literally meant it.
See this silence, this grace, this benediction that is showering on you?
See this stillness? See this faqr ?
In this moment there is no ego in you, but only a pure silence. The personality has disappeared, there is only presence, and the light rises to the highest heavens. Wherever the wild ones meet, the mad ones meet, wherever there is simplicity and love, and wherever there is prayer, zikr , remembrance of God, this miracle happens. You may not be able to see it. It is happening.
I am not just teaching you about God. I am not interested in giving you knowledge about God. I am sharing my God with you; it is a sharing. I want to challenge your God which is asleep inside you, to provoke it. And that is the work Sufis have been doing down the ages: provoking the potential into the actual.

Sufism Beyond Islam

Once a learned Mohammedan came to me and asked, ‘You are not a Mohammedan, then why do you speak on Sufism?’ I told him, ‘I am not a Mohammedan, obviously, but I am a Sufi all the same.’

A Sufi need not be a Mohammedan. A Sufi can exist anywhere, in any form – because Sufism is the essential core of all religions. It has nothing to do with Islam in particular. Sufism can exist without Islam; Islam cannot exist without Sufism. Without Sufism, Islam is a corpse. Only with Sufism does it become alive.

Whenever a religion is alive it is because of Sufism. Sufism simply means a love affair with God, with the ultimate, a love affair with the whole. It means that one is ready to dissolve into the whole, that one is ready to invite the whole to come into one’s heart. It knows no formality. It is not confined by any dogma, doctrine, creed or church. Christ is a Sufi, so is Mohammed. Krishna is a Sufi, so is Buddha. This is the first thing I would like you to remember: that Sufism is the innermost core – as Zen is, as Hassidism is. These are only different names of the same ultimate relationship with God.

The relationship is dangerous. It is dangerous because the closer you come to God, the more and more you evaporate. And when you have come really close you are no more. It is dangerous because it is suicidal…but the suicide is beautiful. To die in God is the only way to live really. Until you die, until you die voluntarily into love, you live an existence which is simply mediocre; you vegetate, you don’t have any meaning. No poetry arises in your heart, no dance, no celebration; you simply grope in the darkness. You live at the minimum, you don’t overflow with ecstasy.

That overflow happens only when you are not. You are the hindrance. Sufism is the art of removing the hindrance between you and you, between the self and the self, between the part and the whole.

You are divine but you have not known it yet. In fact, it is because you are divine that it is so difficult to know it. It is at the very heart of your being. If it were something outside of you, you would have encountered it by now. If it were something objective, you could have seen it. But it is not outside and it is not an object – it is your subjectivity. It is not something to be seen, it is hidden in the seer. It is a witnessing. Unless you go behind yourself you will not be able to know it.

There are three things in the world. One is the world of the object – the things that surround you. Closer to it, when you come towards yourself, is the world of thoughts, dreams and desires. That too surrounds you. That’s what you ordinarily call the inner world. It is not inner, it is still outer. There are two kinds of outsides: one that you see with open eyes and one that you see with closed eyes. But both are outside because whatsoever can be seen must be outside. To be seen, it has to be outside, it has to be different from you. The object has to be different from the subject.

And then there is the third, the world of your innermost core, your subjectivity – from where you go on seeing. To come to that is to realize one’s divinity. One has to become a witness to objects and to thoughts, and by witnessing, by and by, a moment comes when the turning happens. When there is no object and no thought left in your consciousness, when your consciousness is pure, it takes a turn – a hundred-and-eighty-degree turn. When there is nothing to be seen, the seer starts seeing itself.

Remember, I am only using words, and they are not adequate any more.

‘The seer starts seeing himself’ are not the right words because, again, the words indicate a division: the seer and the seen. And now there is no division – there is only you and you and you; there is not something that is seeing and something that is being seen. It is pure consciousness.

Divinity means pure consciousness. You will first have to go from the world of objects to the world of thoughts, and then you will have to take another step – you will have to drop thinking, let thoughts disappear, let there be nothingness. And in that nothingness the turning happens. You cannot do it. You can do only two things: you can close your eyes to the world and you can close your consciousness to the constant traffic of thoughts. That’s all you have to do. Then the third thing happens on its own. Suddenly you are aware that you are a God. Awareness is what God is.

But when you are aware, in a sense you have disappeared, you are no longer there. The old ego is no longer there. You cannot even say ‘I’ – because the ‘I’ depends on things and thoughts, the ‘I’ is constituted of things and thoughts. When all the bricks of things and thoughts have disappeared, the building of the ‘I’ also disappears. There is pure emptiness. That’s what Buddha calls anatta, no-selfness. At the very core of the self, at the innermost shrine, you will not find yourself – and that’s how one finds oneself. When the self is lost, the self is found.

This is one of the paradoxes of spiritual life: the more one dissolves into the divine, the more unique one becomes. The dissolution is not of the individuality but of the self: the dissolution is not of the uniqueness but of the ego. The more you are an ego, the more you are like others, because everyone is an egoist.

The ego is the most ordinary thing in the world. Everyone is an egoist; even a newborn child is an egoist – a perfect egoist. So it is not anyone’s achievement; it is not extraordinary. Really, it can be said that to be just ordinary is the most extraordinary thing possible – because no one feels just ordinary. So to feel oneself extraordinary is just the most ordinary thing. Everyone feels like that. So ego is not something unique.

If you have an ego, it is not something unique. Really, egolessness is the most unique thing, the most uncommon, rare. It happens only sometimes. Centuries pass, and rarely the event happens that someone becomes egoless – a Buddha, a Jesus. But when we say that someone becomes egoless, it does not mean that he is not. Really, for the first time, now he is – authentically grounded into the very being. He is no longer an ego.

So take it from a different root: ego is a false phenomenon – just an appearance, not a reality. It is not something grounded in the being – just a dream, a thought, just a mental construction. So the more you belong to the ego, the less you belong to the existence. The more you concentrate on your ego, the less and less you are authentic. You become false – an existential lie.

When we talk about becoming empty, nothing, valley-like, we mean that there is no ego – but you are! Let me say it in this way: I say “I am,” but when the ego dissolves there remains the pure ‘am-ness’. The ‘I’ is no longer there, but ‘am-ness’ is there, and for the first time pure, total, uncontaminated. The ego contaminates it.

The word ‘personality’ and the word ‘individuality’ must not be confused, they are totally different. They do not mean any similar entity; they are not the same at all. Personality belongs to the ego, individuality to the being. Personality is just a façade. The ego is the center and the personality is the circumference. It is not individuality at all.

The games of the ego are very subtle. And if one is trying to drop the ego they become more and more subtle. And if one has really decided to drop it anyhow, the ultimate strategy that the ego can use to protect itself is to become egolessness; is to pretend humility, humbleness; is to show that ‘Now there is no need to fight with me, I am not at all’.

The ego is one of the most fundamental problems man has to face. The ways of the ego have to be understood rightly otherwise you will never be able to get rid of it. And until you get rid of the ego there is no possibility of meeting God. It is the ego that functions as a barrier between you and reality.

The ego functions as a barrier because it is one of the most unreal things possible. The ego is a fiction, it is not a fact. It is maintained by conditioning, hypnosis; it is maintained by a thousand and one props. It is a fiction – because existence is one. It can have only one center, it cannot have millions of centers.

What is the ego? The ego is the idea that ‘I am the center of the universe’. That is what ego is – reduced to the basic – the idea that ‘I am the center of the universe’. ‘I’ cannot be the center of the universe but everybody has the idea that ‘I am the center of the universe’.

And the second part of the ego is: it is separative, it is a fiction that separates you from the totality. It gives you the idea that you are independent, that you are an island. And you are not. Existence is a vast infinite continent. There are no islands. You are not separate and you are not independent.

And remember, when I say you are not independent I don’t mean that you are dependent – because the very idea of dependence will again presuppose the ego. There is nobody to be independent and there is nobody to be dependent. We live in interdependence, in mutual existence, in mutuality. We are parts of each other, members of one another. The trees are penetrating you and the rocks are penetrating you and the rivers are penetrating you – and you are penetrating the rivers and the trees and the rocks. The farthest star is connected with you. And when you blink your eyes you change the quality of total existence. All is infinitely interconnected, interwoven. Nobody is separate.

So nobody can be independent and nobody can be dependent. Independence and dependence are both aspects of the same coin called ego. A real person is neither. A real person simply does not exist as a person. He has no boundaries. He exists as God, not as a person.

When you alone are left
a passive alertness,
doing nothing, just being –
suddenly the reality bursts in an explosion.
And it is not going to be according to any ideology,
not Hindu nor Christian nor Mohammedan.
All ideologies are transcended.

Ideologies are very narrow.
Reality is infinitely vast.
It cannot be contained by any idea.
It cannot be contained by any concept.
It cannot be present.

Mind is too narrow a thing,
it cannot surround reality,
it has to dissolve into reality.

When you are not a mind,
reality is.
And reality is God.
And that God – you will not find
that is fits with Hindus or it fits with Christians.
It fits with nobody.
It cannot.

Hence I go on insisting that religion
is not Christian, not Hindu, not Buddhist.
Religion knows no adjectives.
Religion knows no labels.
It is life itself,
in its tremendous vitality.
In its unlimited expanse.
In its endless, beginningless flow.

You have been taught and conditioned in a certain way. From the very childhood your mind has been created by others – parents, society, teachers. The past is creating your mind, influencing your mind. The dead past is forcing itself upon the living continuously. The teachers are just the agents – the agents of the dead, against the living. They go on forcing things upon your mind. But the mind is so intimate with you, the gap is so small, that you become identified with it.

You say, “I am a Hindu”. Think again; reconsider it. YOU are not a Hindu. You have been given a Hindu mind. You were born just a simple, innocent being – not a Hindu, not a Mohammedan. But you were given a Mohammedan mind, a Hindu mind. You were forced, engaged, imprisoned in a particular condition, and then life goes on adding to this mind, and this mind becomes heavy – heavy on you. You cannot do anything; the mind starts forcing its own way upon you. Your experiences are being added to the mind. Constantly, your past is conditioning your every present moment. If I say something to you, you are not going to think about it in a fresh way, in an open way. Your old mind, your past, will come in between, will begin to talk and chatter for or against.

Remember, your mind is not yours, your body is not yours: it comes from your parents. Your mind is also not yours: it also comes from your parents. Who are you?

Either one is identified with the body or with the mind. You think you are young, you think you are old, you think you are a Hindu, you think you are a Jain, that you are a Parsi. You are not! You were born as a pure consciousness. These are all imprisonments.

This is tantra’s proposition, that the mind is nothing but subtle matter; it can be changed. And once you have a different mind you have a different world, because you look through the mind. The world you are seeing, you are seeing because of a particular mind. Change the mind, and when you look there is a different world. And if there is no mind, that is the ultimate for tantra: to bring about a state where there is no mind. Then look at the world without a mediator. When the mediator is not, you are encountering the Real, because now no one is between you and the Real. Then nothing can be distorted.

Your breath is a bridge between you and your body. Constantly, breath is bridging you to your body, connecting you, relating you to your body. Not only is the breath a bridge to your body. It is also a bridge between you and the universe. Body is just the universe which has come to you, which is nearer to you.

Your body is part of the universe. Everything in the body is part of the universe – every particle, every cell. It is the nearest approach to the universe. Your body is the NEAREST approach to the universe. Breath is the bridge. If the bridge is broken, you are no more in the body. If the bridge is broken, you are no more in the universe. You move into some unknown dimension; then you cannot be found in space and time.

If you go on practicing breath consciousness, breath awareness, suddenly, one day without knowing, you will come to the interval – because as your awareness will become keen and deep and intense, as your awareness will become bracketed (the whole world is bracketed out; only your breath coming in or going out is your world – the whole arena for your consciousness), suddenly you are bound to feel the gap in which there is no breath.

When you are moving with breath minutely, when there is no breath, how can you remain unaware? You will suddenly become aware that there is no breath, and the moment will come when you will feel that the breath is neither going out nor coming in. The breath has stopped completely. In that stopping “the beneficence.”

This one technique is enough for millions. The whole of Asia tried and lived with this technique for centuries. Tibet, China, Japan, Burma, Thailand (Siam), Ceylon, the whole of Asia, has tried this technique – only one technique – and thousands and thousands have attained Enlightenment through this technique. In India, the Hamsah technique of ajapajapa, which is conscious breathing with mantra, is very ancient. The Khwajagan, the Sufi Masters of Central Asia, had conscious breathing as their primary method.

The air we breathe pervades the globe universally. The air we breathe is not Hindu, Buddhist nor Mohammedan. Conscious breathing requires no temple or mosque. You are quite a temple yourself. You are the lab; the whole experiment is to go on within you. No belief is needed.

This is not religion: this is science. No belief is needed. It is not required to believe in the Koran or the Vedas or in Buddha or in Mahavir. No, no belief is needed. Only a daringness to experiment is enough, courage to experiment is enough; that is the beauty. A Mohammedan can practice and he will reach to the deeper meanings of the Koran. A Hindu can practice and he will for the first time know what the Vedas are. And a Jain can practice and a Buddhist can practice: they need not leave their religion. Tantra will fulfill them, wherever they are. Tantra will be helpful, whatsoever their chosen path.

So remember this, tantra is pure science. You may be a Hindu or a Mohammedan or a Parsi or whatsoever. Tantra doesn’t touch your religion at all. Tantra says that religion is a social affair. So belong to any religion: it is irrelevant. But you can transform yourself, and that transformation needs a scientific methodology. When you are ill, when you have fallen ill or you have caught tuberculosis or anything, then whether you are a Hindu or a Mohammedan makes no difference. The tuberculosis remains indifferent to your Hinduism, to your Mohammedanism, to your beliefs – political, social or religious. Tuberculosis has to be treated scientifically. There is no Hindu tuberculosis, no Mohammedan tuberculosis.

You are ignorant, you are in conflict, you are asleep: this is a disease, a spiritual disease. This disease has to be treated by the tantra. You are irrelevant, your beliefs are irrelevant. It is just a coincidence that you are born somewhere and someone else is born somewhere else. This is just a coincidence. Your religion is a coincidence. So do not cling to it. Use some scientific methods to transform yourself.

The work of the Sufi takes years. Sufis don’t preach. They teach, certainly, but they don’t preach. And when they teach, they teach methods, not principles. To follow a method one needs to be really in search – because sometimes it takes twelve years, sometimes twenty years, sometimes your whole life. And sometimes many lives are needed. The people who are in search of instant enlightenment cannot have a contact with a Sufi. That’s why Sufis go on hiding themselves. They don’t declare themselves, they remain invisible. They are available only to those who really search, who really seek. It is very difficult to find a Sufi Master, and he may be living just in your neighbourhood. He may be doing such an ordinary thing you cannot believe it. He may be a weaver or he may be a shoemaker or he may be running a hotel, or any kind of work. You cannot even suspect that a Sufi Master lives just at the corner. And you may come across him every day and you will have no idea who this man is – unless you are a seeker. If you are a seeker then by and by you will be led to him. In fact, if you are a seeker he will start choosing you. He will be watching you. He will not allow you to watch him; he will be watching you, he will be seeing. And if he feels that here is a seeker, then by and by he will make it possible for you to see him. He can become visible if he wants to.

The baraka, the grace, is always flowing from the Master. If you are ready you will receive it. If you are open you will be filled by it. If you are closed you will miss it. The Master’s very existence is a baraka, a grace. Vibrations are constantly spreading around his being. And it is not only that you have to be in the physical presence of the Master. If you love, then you can be on another planet and it will not make any difference. You can drink from your Master’s fountain wherever you are.

Sufism is pre-Islam and yet it is a unique new phenomenon too. It is the essential core of Islam and yet it is a rebellion against the establishment of Islam too. That’s how it is always. Zen is also both – it is the essential core of Buddhism and a rebellion against the establishment.

The essential religion will always go against the established religion. Sufis are the very heart, but the heart is bound to be against the mind, the intellect. The priest lives in the head; the man of prayer lives in the heart. They are two polarities, their languages are different. Their languages are so different that the priest cannot understand the language of the heart at all. He can spin theories; he has great expertise as far as doctrines are concerned. He has a very legal mind and is very knowledgeable. But as far as the heart is concerned there is a wasteland in his heart; nothing grows, nothing flowers, nothing flows.

The head cannot understand the heart. The heart can understand the head because the heart is deeper than the head. The man of the heart can understand the man of the head and can feel compassion for him, but the man of the head cannot understand the man of the heart. The lower cannot understand the higher; the higher can understand the lower. The man who is sitting in the valley cannot understand the man who is sitting on the top of the hill. But the man who is sitting on the top of the hill can understand the man who is living in the valley. So people of the heart are very compassionate. They understand. They understand why the priest is against them; they understand why the majority of humanity is not able to fall in rapport with them.

*******************************

One of the strangest men that has ever walked on the earth, Sarmad. He was a Sufi, and he was murdered in a mosque by order of the Mohammedan king. He was murdered simply because of a particular Mohammedan sutra, one of their prayers. The prayer is: “Allah la il allah – Allah, God, is the only God.” And that is not enough for them; they want something more. They want to declare to the world that Mohammed is the only prophet of God: “Allah la il allah; mohammed bismillah. God is the only God, and Mohammed is the only prophet of God.”
Sufis deny the second part, that Mohammed is the only prophet of God. That was the sin of Sarmad. Obviously nobody can be the only prophet; nobody absolutely can be the only one – neither Mohammed, nor Jesus, nor Moses, nor Buddha. Sarmad was killed, murdered, butchered, by the Mohammedan king of India, in conspiracy with the Mohammedan priests. But he laughed, and said, “Even after my death I will say the same thing: Allah la il allah – God is the only God.”
The great mosque in Delhi, Jama Masjid, where Sarmad was killed, is still standing, a monument to this great man. He was killed in a very inhuman way: just his head was cut off. His head rolled down the steps of the Jama mosque. The thousands who had gathered there heard the head rolling down the steps clearly shouting, “Allah la il allah – God is the only God….”
I don′t know whether the story is true or not, but it must be. It has to be. Even truth has to compromise with a man like Sarmad. I love Sarmad. He has not written any book, but his statements have been compiled and the most significant is: God is the only God, and there is no prophet, there is no one between you and God. There is no mediator, God is immediately available. Just all that is needed is a little madness and a lot of meditation.
I was going to say something then, but I will not say it… it is unsayable. It has never been said before, and I should not say it either.

is still beautiful
like a sunset…
the birds are coming home,
the first stars are coming,
their colors are in the sky.
Can you see
the smile on my face?

******************

Mohammed was an absolutely illiterate man, and the Koran, in which his sayings are collected, is ninety-nine percent rubbish. You can just open the book anywhere and read it, and you will be convinced of what I am saying. I am not saying on a certain page — anywhere. You just open the book accidentally, read the page and you will be convinced of what I am saying.

Whatsoever one percent truth there is here and there in the Koran is not Mohammed’s. It is just ordinary, ancient wisdom that uneducated people collect easily — more easily than the educated people, because educated people have far better sources of information — books, libraries, universities, scholars. The uneducated, simply by hearing the old people, collect a few words of wisdom here and there. And those words are significant, because for thousands of years they have been tested and found somehow true. So it is the wisdom of the ages that is scattered here and there; otherwise, it is the most ordinary book possible in the world.

Muslims have been asking me, “Why don’t you speak on the Koran? You have spoken on The Bible, on the Gita, this and that.” I could not say to them that it is all rubbish; I simply went on postponing. Even just before I went into silence, a Muslim scholar sent the latest English version of the Koran, praying me to speak on it. But now I have to say that it is all rubbish, that is why I have not spoken on it — because why unnecessarily waste time?

As far as sufism is concerned it is against of islamic teachings and sufism is highly affected by Hinduism and pre-islamic worship of God.

*************

read it several times and even after my best efforts I could hardly find anything that could be termed wise. People born in that religion are brough up in a belief system which makes them to believe that it is the word of god. If they can keep aside their faith (which they can just not do due to their upbringing)they will realize that all that the holy quran contains is nothing except threatening the non-believers with dire consequences, venting ire at Jews and asking his followers to kill them and providing special privileges and ‘packages’ by Allah to Muhammad as he is the prophet.

Every surah of 114 chapters contains nothing but warnings, threats to non-believers and only the attempts to convince and convert them into his faith.

Islam is bullshit although one can find many things to admire in Sufi faith. Quran is venom, hatred and threat personified. Nothing of value for any sensible being in it. Mohammed undoubtedly must have been high on Hasheesh and Marijuana in that cave of his in the mountain which turned all the crap in his illiterate head into poetry. Second largest religion in the name of THIS poetry is definitely some kind of joke!

i feel pity and sorry for the sentiments of muslims,their love only for one thing that is allah or prophet.they hav locked their sence of reasoning and rational thinking.,how can it help in creating a more joyous society wher everyone is together and every religion is respected.

i see after reading many muslim friends,i come to conclusion that here or anywher in the world theres no muslim who can understand the drawbacs of their own religion and has the courage to stand against this religion.this religion has destroyed humanity in the name of religion,which is just a fictious phenomenon,by some ancient fellow. d in what way it has effected humanity,every time i see killing in the name of jihad,thers no liberty no freedom,women r caged behind veils like a pet bird wher only the master has control.theres only one thing which islam likes is blood it seems.
this ancient religion has started with the barbaric foundation of bloodshed and the same image u can see here in this century or more centuries to come.it has brainwashed so many people in to hatred.thers absolutely no change in the peoples mentality,and has made them promote hatred,then how come this so called religion promote hatred.its high time that religions which promote hatred revieve themselves and start looking this beautiful world with a clear eye,tht eye of ones OWN personal realisation,that is the ultimate truth.

in koran there things we all should lookat it
1. man can beat thier wives.
2.A man may marry four wives
3. A man can marry a girl who hasn’t reached puberty.
4. A man can have sex with prisoners of war.
5. A man may marry the wife of his adopted son.
6. A woman’s witness testimony is half of that of a man’s.
7. Fight non-Muslims.
this koran is a crap….. this is poison which has spread all over the world…

“I invite [those] who haven’t read the Quran to simply read the book. Take out a highlighter and highlight those lines that counsel the believer to despise infidels, and you will find a book that is just covered with highlighter.”

That means the Quran has not a single positive thing to say about non-Muslims, and sixty-one percent of the Quran is about non-Muslims.

And now, here is the intolerance in the Quran:

1. “Show us the straight path, The path of those whom Thou hast favoured; Not the (path) of those who earn Thine anger nor of those who go astray.” Muslims generally interpret “those whom Allah has favored,” “those who earn Allah’s anger,” and “those who go astray” as Muslims, Jews, and Christians, respectively. 1:6-7

2. Don’t bother to warn the disbelievers. Allah has blinded them. Theirs will be an awful doom. 2:6

3. Allah has sickened their hearts. A painful doom is theirs because they lie. 2:10

4. Allah has blinded the disbelievers. 2:17-18

5. A fire has been prepared for the disbelievers, whose fuel is men and stones. 2:24

6. Disbelievers will be burned with fire. 2:39, 2:90

7. Allah stamped wretchedness upon the Jews because they killed the prophets and disbelieved Allah’s revelations. 2:61

8. Allah turned the Sabbath-breaking Jews into apes. 2:65-66

9. If you believe in only part of the Scripture, you will suffer in this life and go to hell in the next. 2:85

10. Allah has cursed them for their unbelief. 2:88

11. The curse of Allah is on disbelievers. 2:89

12. Jews are the greediest of all humankind. They’d like to live 1000 years. But they are going to hell. 2:96

17. “But those who keep their duty to Allah will be above them [non-muslims] on the Day of Resurrection.” 2:212

18. For unbelievers: ignominy in this world, an awful doom in the next. 2:114

19. “And thou wilt not be asked about the owners of hell-fire.” (They are the non-muslims.) 2:119

20. Disbelievers are losers. 2:121

21. Allah will leave the disbelievers alone for a while, but then he will compel them to the doom of Fire. 2:126

22. “Who forsaketh the religion of Abraham save him who befooleth himself?” Cited in the Hamas Charter (Article 27) to condemn the idea of a secular state. 2:130

23. Those who reject the proofs, are accursed of Allah. 2:159

24. Those who die disbelievers, are cursed by Allah, angels, and men. 2:161

25. The doom of the disbelievers will not be lightened. 2:162

26. They will not emerge from the Fire. 2:167

27. Disbelievers will be deaf, dumb, and blind. 2:171

28. Those who hide the Scripture will have their bellies eaten with fire. Theirs will be a painful doom. 2:174

29. How constant are they in their strife to reach the Fire! 2:175

30. Believers must retaliate. Those who transgress will have a painful doom. 2:178

31. Kill disbelievers wherever you find them. If they attack you, then kil them. Such is the reward of disbelievers. (But if they desist in their unbelief, then don’t kill them.) 2:191-2

32. Fight them until “religion is for Allah.” 2:193

33. Those who fail in their duty to Allah are proud and sinful. They will all go to hell. 2:206

34. War is ordained by Allah, and all Muslims must be willing to fight, whether they like it or not. 2:216

35. Those who die in their disbelief will burn forever in the Fire. 2:217

36. Intermarriage is forbidden. 2:221

37. The disbelievers, they are the wrong-doers. 2:254

38. Disbelievers worship false gods. The will burn forever in the Fire. 2:257

39. Allah does not guide disbelievers. 2:264

40. “Give us victory over the disbelieving folk.” 2:286

41. Those who disbelieve the revelations of Allah, theirs will be a heavy doom. 3:4

42. Those who disbelieve will be fuel for the Fire. 3:10

43. Those who disbelieve shall be overcome and gathered unto Hell. 3:12

44. Non-muslims will be punished by Allah for their nonbelief. 3:19

45. “If they surrender, then truly they are rightly guided, and if they turn away, then it is thy duty only to convey the message.”
(The message for those who won’t surrender is “you’re going to hell.”) 3:20

46. Those who disbelieve, promise them a painful doom. 3:21

47. “They [Christians and Jews] say: The Fire will not touch us save for a certain number of days. That which they used to invent hath deceived them regarding their religion.” (The Fire will burn them forever.) 3:24

48. Let not the believers take disbelievers for their friends in preference to believers. 3:28

49. Allah loveth not the disbelievers. 3:32

50. Allah will punish disbelievers in this world and the next. They will have no helpers. 3:56

51. Don’t believe anyone who is not a Muslim. 3:73

52. Theirs will be a painful doom. 3:77

53. All non-Muslims will be rejected by Allah after they die. 3:85

54. Apostates will be cursed by Allah, angels, and men. They will have a painful doom. 3:86-88

55. Disbelievers will have a painful doom. And they will have no helpers. 3:91

56. Disbelievers will have their faces blackened on the last day. They will face an awful doom. 3:105-6

57. Muslims are the best people. Most Non-muslims are “evil-livers.” 3:110

58. Those who disbelieve will be burnt in the Fire. 3:116

59. Don’t be friends with non-Muslims. They all hate you and want to ruin you. 3:118

60. The Fire is prepared for disbelievers. 3:131

61. Give us victory over the disbelieving folk. 3:147

62. Do not obey disbelievers. 3:149

63. We shall cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Their habitation is the Fire 3:151

64. “Is one who followeth the pleasure of Allah as one who hath earned condemnation from Allah, whose habitation is the Fire?”
Unbelievers will burn forever in the Fire. 3:162

65. Theirs will be an awful doom. 3:176

66. Disbelievers do not harm Allah, but will have a painful doom. 3:177

67. Disbelievers will go to Hell. 3:196

68. Those who disobey Allah and his messenger will be burnt with fire and suffer a painful doom. 4:14

69. For the disbelievers and those who make a last-minute conversion, Allah has prepared a painful doom. 4:18

70. For disbelievers, We prepare a shameful doom. 4:37

71. “Allah has cursed them for their disbelief, so they believe not.” 4:46

72. Christians and Jews must believe what Allah has revealed to Muhammad or Allah will disfigure their faces or turn them into apes, as he did the Sabbath-breakers. (See 2:65-66) 4:47

73. Those who ascribe a partner to Allah (like Christians do with Jesus and the Holy Spirit) will not be forgiven. They have “invented a tremendous sin.” 4:48, 4:116

74. Those who invent lies about Allah are guilty of flagrant sin. 4:50

75. Jews and Christians believe in idols and false deities, yet they claim to be more rightly guided than Muslims. 4:51

78. Unbelievers will be tormented forever with fire. When their skin is burned off, a fresh skin will be provided. 4:56

79. Those who refuse to follow Muhammad, follow false gods and are deceived by Satan. 4:60

80. Those who refuse to believe what Allah has revealed to Muhammad are hypocrites. 4:61

81. Oppose and admonish those who refuse to follow Muhammad. 4:63

82. The hypocrites refuse to die for Allah and Muhammad. 4:66

83. Those who obey Allah and Muhammad are favored by Allah. They are the best company. 4:69

84. Allah will bestow a vast reward on those who fight in religious wars. 4:74

85. Believers fight for Allah; disbelievers fight for the devil. So fight the minions of the devil. 4:76

86. Allah casts the hypocrites back to disbelief. Don’t try to guide those that Allah sends astray. 4:88

87. Have no unbelieving friends. Kill the unbelievers wherever you find them. 4:89

88. If the unbelievers do not offer you peace, kill them wherever you find them. Against such you are given clear warrant. 4:91

89. Believers shouldn’t kill believers, unless by mistake. If you kill a believer by mistake, you must set free a believing slave. 4:92

90. Believers who kill believers will go to hell. 4:93

91. The disbelievers are an open enemy to you. 4:101

92. For the disbelievers, Allah has prepared a shameful punishment. 4:102

93. Relent not in pursuit of the enemy. They have no hope from Allah. 4:104

94. Those who oppose the messenger and become unbelievers will go to hell. 4:115

95. They (those who ascribe partners to Allah) invoke in his stead only females and pray to Satan. 4:117

96. Allah will lead them astray and they will go to hell. 4:119-121

97. Those who believe, then disbelieve, then believe and disbelieve again will never be forgiven by Allah. 4:137

98. For the hypocrites there will be a painful doom. 4:138

99. Allah will gather hypocrites and disbelievers into hell. 4:140

100. Allah will not allow disbelievers to succeed against believers. 4:141

101. Do not choose disbelievers as friends. 4:144

102. The hypocrites will be in the lowest part of hell and no one will help them there. 4:145

103. You must believe everything Allah and his messengers tell you. Those who don’t are disbelievers and will face a painful doom. 4:150-151

104. For the wrongdoing Jews, Allah has prepared a painful doom. 4:160-1

105. God will guide disbelievers down a road that leads to everlasting hell. 4:168-169

106. Those who deny Islam will be losers in the Hereafter. 5:5

107. Disbelievers are the rightful owners of Hell. 5:10

108. Allah has cursed the Jews and hardened their hearts. Nearly all of them are treacherous. 5:12-13

109. Allah has stirred up enmity and hatred among Christians. 5:14

110. Christians are disbelievers for believing in the divinity of Christ. 5:17

111. Those who make war with Allah and his messenger will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet on alternate sides cut off, or will be expelled out of the land. That is how they will be treated in this world, and in the next they will have an awful doom. 5:33

112. Disbelievers will have a painful doom. 5:36

113. Disbelievers will want to come out of the Fire, but will not. Their will be a lasting doom. 5:37

114. Cut off the hands of thieves. It is an exemplary punishment from Allah. 5:38

115. Allah makes some people sin. He will not cleanse their hearts. They will have ignominy in this world, and in the Hereafter an awful doom. 5:41

116. Non-muslims are wrong doers. 5:45

117. Don’t take Jews or Christians for friends. If you do, then Allah will consider you to be one of them. 5:51

118. Jews and Christians are losers. 5:53

119. Allah could replace nonbelievers with believers who would love him and do whatever he says. 5:54

120. Your only friends should be Allah, Muhammad, and those who believe correctly (Muslims). 5:55

304. Disbelievers will wear garments of fire, boiling fluid will be poured on their heads, their bellies and skin will be melted, they will be tormented with iron hooks, and when they try to escape they will be driven back with the taunt: Taste the doom of burning. 22:19-22

305. Allah will provide the disbelievers with a painful doom. 22:25

306. Those who disregard Allah’s revelations are the owners of the Fire. 22:51

307. “Those who disbelieve will not cease to be in doubt thereof until the Hour come upon them unawares, or there come unto them the doom of a disastrous day.” 22:55

308. Those who disbelieve Allah’s revelations will have a shameful doom. 22:57

309. Those who disbelieve Allah’s revelations will burn in the Fire. 22:72

310. Those who don’t believe in the Hereafter will receive extreme punishment from Allah. 23:74-77

311. Disbelievers will not be successful. 23:117

312. Those who traduce virtuous, believing women … cursed are they in the world and the Hereafter. Theirs will be an awful doom.” 24:23

313. Disbelievers are miscreants. 24:55

314. Disbelievers will never escape the Fire that will be their home. 24:57

315. The only true believers are those who believe in Allah and his messenger. 24:62

316. Those who deny the coming of the Hour will be chained together and burned with fire. They will pray for their own destruction. 25:11-13

317. It will be a hard day for disbelievers and wrong-doers. They will gnaw on their hands and wish they had chosen Islam. 25:26-27

318. Those who deny Muhammad’s revelations will be destroyed. 25:36

319. Allah drowned everyone in the flood of Noah, and has prepared a painful doom for evil-doers. 25:37

320. “They [the non-muslims] will know, when they behold the doom, who is more astray as to the road.” 25:42

321. Don’t obey disbelievers. But rather fight against them. 25:52

322. Those who cry out to another god with Allah will be tormented doubly in hell. 25:68-69

323. Many will not believe until they see the painful doom. 26:201

324. Those who believe in another god are doomed. 26:213

325. Stay away from poets. The erring follow them. 26:224

326. Allah leads those who do not believe in the Hereafter astray by making things work out OK in this life, so that he can torment them forever in the next. They will get the worst punishment and will be the greatest losers. 27:4-5

327. But he “saved those who believed.” 27:53

328. Allah will taunt Christians on the day of their doom, saying: Where are My partners whom ye imagined? 28:62-64

329. Never help disbelievers. 28:86

330. Those who disbelieve in the revelations of Allah have no hope of mercy. For such there is a painful doom. 29:23

331. “Ye have chosen only idols instead of Allah … on the Day of Resurrection ye will deny each other and curse each other, and your abode will be the Fire, and ye will have no helpers.” 29:25

332. Only wrong-doers deny the revelations of Allah. 29:49

333. Those who disbelieve in the revelations of Allah are the losers. 29:52

334. The doom of hell will come upon disbelievers suddenly, when they least expect it. 29:53-55

335. The worst thing you can do is tell a lie about Allah. Hell is the home of disbelievers. 29:68

336. When the Hour comes, Christians will be divided into two groups: Those who believed Allah’s revelations, and those who disbelieved in them. The believers will be happy in the Garden; the disbelievers will be brought to doom. 30:13-16

337. Allah does not love disbelievers. 30:45

338. Allah seals the heart of disbelievers. (And then he burns them in the Fire.) 30:59

339. Those who mislead others from Allah’s way and mock Islam will have a painful doom. 31:6-7

340. Allah will give disbelievers a little comfort for a little while, and then he’ll torment them forever with a heavy doom. 31:23-24

341. Allah will fill hell with the jinn and mankind together. 32:13

342. Allah: Taste the doom of immortality because of what ye used to do. 32:14

343. Those who used to deny the Fire will be tormented in it forever. 32:20

344. The worst thing you can do is to deny the revelations of Allah. 32:22

345. Don’t obey disbelievers. 33:1

346. He hath prepared a painful doom for the unfaithful.” 33:8

347. Allah makes the deeds of unbelievers fruitless. 33:19

348. Allah cast panic into the hearts of the disbelievers. He killed some, and enslaved others. 33:25-26

349. Ignore disbelievers and their poisonous talk. 33:48

350. Those who malign Allah, Muhammad, and Muslims will be cursed by Allah in this life and with doom in the Hereafter. 33:57

351. Those who oppose Islam will be slain with a fierce slaughter. 33:60-61

352. Allah has cursed the disbelievers, and has prepared for them a flaming fire, wherein they will abide forever. 33:64-65

353. The disbelievers will be burned in the Fire with a double torment. 33:66-68

354. Those who challenge the revelations of Muhammad will have a painful doom. 34:5

355. “They are filled with remorse when they behold the doom; and We place carcans on the necks of those who disbelieved.” 34:33

356. Those who disbelieve in the Hereafter will be tormented. 34:8

357. Those who strive against Allah’s revelations will be brought to the doom. 34:38

358. Allah hates those who ignore his messengers. 34:45

359. Those who ignore Allah’s messenger (Muhammed) will face a terrific doom. 34:46

360. Those who are cast into hell be terrified when they see that they have no escape. Then they will believe. But it will be too late. 34:51-52

361. Those who disbelieve will have an awful doom. 35:7

362. Allah hates disbelievers. 35:26

363. Disbelievers will burn forever in the fire of hell. Allah will keep them alive so that he can torture them forever. When they repent and ask for mercy, he will ignore them. 35:36-7

364. He who disbelieves, his disbelief be on his own head. 35:39

365. Allah has blinded the disbelievers so that they cannot see the truth. So it don’t bother warning them. They will go to hell anyway. 36:8-10

366. Allah will burn the disbelievers in hell. 36:63-4

367. Those who refuse to believe in Muhammad’s revelations will face a painful doom. 37:31-38

368. If you’re not favored by Allah, you’re doomed. 37:57

369. Allah drowned everyone except Noah and his family in the flood. 37:82

370. Only the “single-minded slaves of Allah” will be saved from the doom. 37:127-8

371. Allah killed everyone in Sodom except for Lot and his family. 37:136

372. No one is against Allah, except those who burn in hell. 37:162-3

373. Just wait a while and watch. The unbelievers will soon be destroyed in the doom. 37:176-9

374. Those who disbelieve are in false pride and schism. 38:2

375. Allah has destroyed many generations. 38:3

376. Those who doubt will soon taste Allah’s doom. 38:8

377. Those who deny the messengers deserve doom. 38:14

378. Those who wander from the way of Allah will have an awful doom. 38:26

379. Those who disbelieve will burn in the Fire. 38:27

380. Tell the disbelievers to enjoy themselves now, because later they will be owners of the Fire. 39:8

381. Those who disobey Allah should fear his doom. 39:13

382. No one will be able to help those that Allah torments in the Fire. 39:19

383. Woe unto those who forget Allah. They are in plain error. 39:22

384. The doom will come upon those who deny what Allah has revealed. 39:25

385. Allah will make non-believers “taste humiliation in the life of the world” and ” the doom of the Hereafter” which will be even worse. 39:26

386. The worst thing you can do is tell a lie against Allah. The home of disbelievers is hell. 39:32

387. Surrender to Allah before he sends the doom upon you suddenly. 39:54-55

388. Disbelievers had their chance to believe. They will all suffer in an endless doom. 39:56-59

389. Those who lie about Allah will be sent to hell and will have their faces blackened. 39:60

390. Losers are those who disbelieve the revelations of Allah. 39:63

391. Those ascribe a partner to Allah (like the Christians) will be among the losers. 39:65

392. Those who disbelieve will be driven into hell. 39:71-72

393. Those who disbelieve are the owners of the Fire. 40:6

394. Allah greatly abhors those who disbelieve. 40:10

395. Those who ignore Allah’s “clear proofs” will be seized and punished severely. 40:22

@ RJ. You forgot some important verses that pertains to you, my friend:-

“And the bond-men of the Most Affectionate ALLAH, are those who walk on the earth modestly and when the IGNORANT address them, they say, ‘Peace’.”. #Holy Quran.

“Say you, O non-believers! I worship not that you worship. And nor you worship what I worship. And I shall not worship what you worshiped and nor you shall worship what I worship. For you, your religion, and for me, my religion. ” #Holy Quran.

Btw, a TRUE Sufi is one who cuts himself of totally from everything\everyone and concentrates fully on his LORD; he is one who is so lost in the divine love of GOD Almighty, that he does not find time to give his OWN views, opinions, look for faults in other religions, look for faults in other people, criticize, demonise , spread hatred, etc etc. etc.

Probably its time for u to truly educate yourself abt the traits, characteristics and the truth of a REAL Sufi!! Peace! :)

[…] could be further from the truth. I have written about this subject on numerous occasions. I have argued that the Prophet Muhammad and the U.S. founding fathers were kindred spirits. I have highlighted […]

Excellent article!! We all are the creation of the ONE and Same GOD Almighty. We bleed the same! We all are equal n only piety n closeness to GOD Almighty does raise ones status in GOD’S Sight. Pray n hope we human beings can unite together n spread love for each other, irrelevant of Country, Religion, Race and Cultures.

Say No!! To all future wars! There is nothing patriotic about wars. Its Mass Murders of Innocent fellow human beings.

Say No!! To American Drone Attacks on innocent citizens of other countries. These are brutal killing machines operated by Mad-Men, who have blood on their hands.

[…] After today you will not be subject to oppression or violence.” In the Constitution of Medina, a key document which laid out a societal vision for Muslims, Muhammad also singled out Jews, who, he wrote, “shall maintain their own religion and the Muslim […]

[…] today you will not be subject to oppression or violence.” In the Constitution of Medina, a key document which laid out a societal vision for Muslims, Muhammad also singled out Jews, who, he wrote, […]

[…] be American. Although Muslims worldwide and Americans are sometimes seen as overwhelming opposites, my research has showed me that Muhammad, Peace Be Upon Him, and the Founding Fathers of the US shared similar […]

[…] After today you will not be subject to oppression or violence.” In the Constitution of Medina, a key document which laid out a societal vision for Muslims, the Prophet also singled out Jews, who, he wrote, […]

In his discussion of freedom of religion in his monumental Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, Father of American Jurisprudence Joseph Story clarified the meaning of the First Amendment with regard to the priority of Christianity stated:

..the real object of the [First] amendment was not to countenance, much less to advance Mahometanism, or Judaism, or infidelity by prostrating Christianity; but to exclude all rivalry among Christian sects and to prevent any national ecclesiastical establishment which should give to a hierarchy the exclusive patronage of the national government (1833, 3:728, emp. added).

James Iredell, a U.S. Supreme Court judge appointed by George Washington, articulated this point succinctly in 1788 in the debates on the wording of the Constitution:

But it is objected that the people of America may perhaps choose representatives who have no religion at all, and that pagans and Mahometans may be admitted into offices…. But it is never to be supposed that the people of America will trust their dearest rights to persons who have no religion at all, or a religion materially different from their own (Elliot, 1836, 4:194).

Samuel Johnston, governor of North Carolina and member of the Constitution ratifying convention in 1788:

Those who are Mahometans, or any others who are not professors of the Christian religion, can never be elected to the office of President or other high office, but in one of two cases. First, if the people of America lay aside the Christian religion altogether, it may happen. Should this unfortunately take place, the people will choose such men as think as they do themselves. Another case is, if any persons of such descriptions should, notwithstanding their religion, acquire the confidence and esteem of the people of America by their good conduct and practice of virtue, they may be chosen. I leave it to gentlemen’s candor to judge what probability there is of the people’s choosing men of different sentiments from themselves (Elliot, 4:198-199, emp. added). – http://www.apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=7&article=4622